Paul's Corner

It all a started last Monday when I awoke early in the morning too excited to sleep - that goes for the whole week - and spent the day pressing the go button on my beer. It was a very busy day making sure all of the seperate elements from packaging to brewing to paying to ordering to logistics etc all things new to me. Mercs Own Brewing Company now exsists - has a bank account and tax and government numbers etc we are GO! Monday settled with every thing in place.

Tuesday I started out with my Tai Chi which I am immensely pleased to say I have gotten back to. Half way through Tai chi a camera crew arrived at my house to film me doing tai chi and then to spend the day with me. It is for an ABC Program hosted by a well respected journalist - George Negus. They are doing a profile on me. They are terrific as they do an in depth look into their guests life in three sections - past , present and future. I have done thousands of interviews but only a handfull of interviews actually take the time to get to know you and or allow you to show yourself. This is one of them. It will be on ABC next year and I will let you guys know when. Of course after filming all day I went to channel Seven to shoot the show.

In answer to your question Peter - I am enjoying it in some ways and not in others. I have never wanted to judge and find the idea fairly strange. I do like to entertain and so I am trying to maintain a tongue in cheek playfullness with my judging. A little difficult with how serious every one else is but I will keep on with it as best I can. I made a playful comment to John last week and he had a banter back at me - all good stuff and I am glad he also has a tongue in cheek attitude about it all - but I did get booed by the audience for the first time. Also I dont like the way the network is making the judges out to be the baddies - typical - but I am the one that walks down the street every day and must put up with the misconceptions the network put out there. All good for the ratings I guess but....

Wednesday I flew to Sydney to be a part of the media launch of Through My Eyes - which is the Mini series based on Lindy Chamberlain that I was a part of and shot back in May/June. It is very good and I hope people tune in and really listen to what happened. A lot of the dialogue is taken from court transcripts and thereby is completely true - no one should finish watching this mini series and still think that Lindy could have murdered her nine week old baby!!!! Wednesday I started to deal with the fires that I had lit on Monday!!! Fun - and I better get used to it!

Thursday I did an interview for Womans Day Magazine which comes out mid November (same time as my first brew) and then flew back to Melbourne. I raced home to collect some sample shirts I have made up for Mercs Own Brewing Company and then raced off (after cooking the kids dinner) to Woodend - an hour or so out of Melbourne. Holgates Brewery is in Woodend and I went up the night before so as to sample some of Paul Holgates Beer and also to stay the night up there so I would get a good nights sleep and then get to the Brewery nice and early in the morning for our Brew day.

Friday - yes folks - BREW DAY. One year ago I came home from Canada with the idea of brewing and releasing my own beer. Friday I made that beer! I must admit to being a little emotional about it. I rang Andrea during my lunch break and felt like having a bit of a cry which surprised me. But it is and was a pretty big moment for me. It represents the realisation of a dream, the beginning of some pretty big dreams and a new beginning in the conitnuing adventures of Paul Mercurio. The cameras were also there as part of my profile so I have footage of the inaugural brewday, and better still national coverage I hope when they talk about this part of my future. I had a lovely if not slightly speedy trip home on the motor bike and a really nice night with my girls!

Saturday - saw shopping and mowing the back lawns in prep for another day of shooting for my profile. They got me to do part of the interview whilst I was cooking. Of course I did a beer dish - my Beef and Beer curry, on the recipe section if you want to try it. The camera crew loved it!! The kids were in the shoot this time and we all had fun and then they interviewed Andrea!! She doesnt really like being interviewed but boy she looked lovely and by all accounts did a great interview as well. At the end of the day I had to go through a lot of old photos for the producer to film and possibly use in the show. It was an emotional journey looking back into all those olds pasts. Andrea and I hadnt gone through some of these photos for years. It was a real trip down memory lane - some really good and some really confronting. Lots of photos where Andrea and I were young Adonis's fit, healthy, sexy, vibrant, YOUNG!! Lots of lovely baby photos, family photos - yeah lots of memories. We found lots of photo's of Micheal that we hadnt seen in years and that makes you stop and think about life and the travels we have had. You cant help but think about what could have been, might have been, what you wish for and still wish for almost every day but dont quite let yourself know you still wish.....miss you Michael.

Elise baby sat on Sat night and didnt get home till 11pm. That is a new one for us. Life is constantly changing, evolving and challenging isnt it.

Sunday, aghaghagh.... a day off. I got out and did some gardening. I have only touched up the tip of the iceburg but it looks so good with just that little bit of jooshing. I then got the bug for cooking a really nice seafood meal so Iwent out shopping which may have been a mistake as I evetually came home with a new TV. How does that happen??? I now have a little bit of buyers remorse!! It is a long story but our tv is on the blink. We have had it for ten years and now the colour is wobbly, it occassionally decides not to show a picture and it is often too dark to actually see anything. I like to window shop and thought I would do a little while I was having a wander to the seafood shop. Yes well I got the deal that was too good to be true on the TV that I have been drooling over for the last year. Five months ago it was over two thousand dollars more expensive than I bought it for today. When I worked the offer out with the salesaman I went to two differnt electrical stores and went home and looked on the internet and no one was selling them this cheap - I am talking four hundred bucks below the lowest price I could find with Five years warranty and free delivery!! I am starting to feel better now. I just need to work out how I can make the payments on my credit card LOL. Delivery tomorrow and I know it will be great. But on a serious note I spent money I dont have - thats a bit silly and I hope I wont regret it. Time will tell and so will I.

Tomorrow I film again for the profile and then I will be done and no I do not get paid for the five days I have spent filming for them. Tuesday is Tai Chi day and Dancing with the Stars and then Wednesday is my beer dinner night that I hold monthly at a hotel in Brighton. Thursday is any ones guess.

What a week!!!

Hey I am always looking for something, that is my nature. The next gig, the next opportunity, the next dream but for the moment I am looking for a recipe for German Beer Soup. I have found some simple one with egg and lemon juice but has anyone got an old home style beer soup recipe - Evelyn???

I was planning on coming in tonight to see the show, tell you all how absolutely terrific I think that each and every one of you are and how much I enjoyed working with you. Then I thought send a fax instead, that way I can stay home and watch Australia’s Funniest Home videos!!

The telling you how terrific I think you all are is true but the real reason I wont make it in is due to being hit with the flu and I feel like $*@$#) I have also been signed up to the channel seven Dancing with the Stars thing as a judge, and as that goes live to air on Tuesday I best get rid of this flu!

SO a BIG thanks to each and every one you for your commitment, your talent, your energy and your positive outlooks and your not laughing at my developing ability to count music in a timing different to the timing that it is written and in fact played in – thank you Vanessa for being so wonderful!

The great thing with any job is that I go away having learned things – so thank you for that gift from you to me. I also go away knowing that some where, some time, we will act, dance, choreograph, sing, work, laugh and more than likely have a drink with each other again. I certainly look forward to that time and hope it is not too far off!

I wish you all love, joy, health, harmony and prosperity!

See ya at the next gig!!

Paul Mercurio